3/12/2014

So, busy as I have been, I have not yet had a chance to comment on the House Oversight Committee’s report on Lois Lerner. You’ve probably all read about it already, but if not, John Sexton has an excellent summary at Breitbart. The report alleges several ways in which Lerner appears to have misled the committee. That said, the various accusations in the report are likely to be dismissed by many as partisan, and even though I think the report is dead on, I am also quite sure nothing will come of any of it.

But here’s a fact that caught my attention — and it’s tough to get around this. From Sexton’s summary:

And there is no doubt Lerner was aware who was being scrutinized. In July 2012, Lerner was notified by email that of the 199 501(c)(4) cases which had been set aside “approximately 3/4 appear to be conservative leaning while fewer than 10 appear to be liberal/progressive leaning groups…”

Sexton is dead on. I read the email myself.

For the math-challenged among you, 3/4 of 199 is right around 150. That’s 150 conservative leaning (c)(4) groups, vs. fewer than 10 liberal/progressive groups.

I will add that, according to the email, of the 84 bucketed (c)(3) cases, over half were conservative-leaning groups whereas no others had obvious political leanings. That’s over 42 conservative (c)(3) groups vs. zero lefty groups.

Why do I bring this up? Because, remember our good friend Robin Abcarian? Yeah, she’s the one who said:

[C]onservatives went crazy after the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s famous May 2013 audit found the IRS may have flagged groups with “tea party” in their names for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.

But that’s because Issa had asked the inspector general to look only at how tea party-affiliated groups were treated. He didn’t care to know, as we later found out thanks to Democrats on his committee, that the IRS was also flagging applications from liberal groups that used terms such as “progressive,” “medical marijuana” or “healthcare legislation.”

The IRS, see, was trying to prevent groups whose work is mainly political from receiving inappropriate tax-exempt status.

150 (c)(4) conservative groups vs. fewer than 10 lefty groups, Ms. Abcarian. 42 (c)(3) conservative groups vs. zero lefty groups. And that’s from an internal email. Not from the dreaded inspector general. It had nothing to do with Issa’s request. See page 45 of the appendix to the report linked above to read the email.

Go ahead, Robin Abcarian. Ignore this passage in the report. Ignore this post. Confirm our impression of you as a haughty Big Media elitist who doesn’t need to worry about pesky things like facts.

do we know if she can even read for comprehension, or dues she just copy & paste talking points into an auto-magic word processing tool?

Some 24-year-old pajama boy DNC intern probably actually writes her column for her. Abcarian probably spends her days browsing the crafts offerings on etsy and taking long lunches at some oh-so-pretentious organic vegan cafe near the Dog Trainer office.

You’ve got a president who’s openly and casually converted the government into his own campaign machine, meanwhile granting an interview to the most idiotic media outlet he can find while the rest of the media swoons.

I’d say you’re being punked, but that implies he’s mocking you. I don’t think he actually cares enough for that.

Are there any major columnists working at and appearing weekly in the LA Times who aren’t idiotically liberal or leftwing?! I can’t think of one.

If there were conservative writers at that paper who were as deceptive, foolish and dishonorable as Abcarian or Hiltzik, I’d be no less embarrassed for or sickened by them.

Meanwhile…

thehill.com, March 12: The White House is bringing all hands on deck in the push to increase ObamaCare enrollment, and that includes a visit from pop singer Lance Bass. However, the former ‘N Sync band member tweeted “HealthCare.org.” rather than “Healthcare.gov” during his White House visit. Bass has since deleted the tweet.

^ BTW, that person is one of the few in the world of entertainment who is known for having come “out of the closet.” I’m sure that gives him additional credo to Obama.

Abcarian’s next lede: “IRS emails released this week in the IRS investigation show that IRS officials targeted nearly ten “progressive” or liberal groups for extra scrutiny. This fact stands at odds with conservatives’ assertions that the IRS primarily target conservative groups …”

I dunno. If the ‘pubes take back the Senate in November, a lot can and will be done.

That said, impeachment should stay off the table, unless direct evidence is uncovered tying Obama to it. And even then maybe it should stay off the table, given Obama’s lame duck status. More would be lost PR-wise than gained for the GOP.

The murder rate is still going down, although maybe because of teh weathe.

Of the three big es where de Blasio could do damage, it seems like

1) On crime,. he’s actually very worried about it.

2) On labor contracts – he’s not going to gove the unions what they want, although he will try to gove them more than they would have gotten under anotehr mayor. That’s teh secret reason he wanst to raise some taxes – it’s not for pre-K.

3) On charter schools – he’s attempting to keep his campaign promises to the teacher’s union, but Governor Cuomo and the State Snate may frustrate him, so it’s all up to Assembly Spekaer Sheldon Slver, who has made public statements that link him with de Blasio’ goals, but Cuomo might make a deal with him.

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